Shula Has Bengals Sit Up, Take Notice

June 12, 1992|By LARRY DORMAN, Senior Writer

CINCINNATI -- Practice was over and a knot of sweaty men labored loudly at sit-ups in the corner of the field. You could hear them counting from 50 yards away, across the hot artificial turf at Bengals training camp.

``Hunph... 21! Hunph... 22! Hunph... 23!``

One of them, the one with the boyish face beneath the Bengals` visor, really seemed to be enjoying himself. He wore shades and his tight stomach muscles were outlined against his soaked shirt. He was smiling as he pulled himself up, again and again, until he decided the drill was done.

``OK,`` he said, hopping to his feet. ``All right! That`s it. See y`all tomorrow. Hey, good job, good job today!``

It was then, when he stood and slapped high-fives with a few of the players, that you recognized him. David Shula, youngest head coach in the National Football League, the kid you used to see as a ball boy at Dolphins camp and as a high school star at Chaminade. The same guy who set the receiving records at Dartmouth and who made it for a year as a kick returner with the Baltimore Colts, his old man`s former team.

Slapping high-fives with the players? In training camp? In June?

He is 33. He has been in the NFL for 10 years. He still looks like he did that day in 1983 when he walked into the Dolphins coaching offices as a one- month replacement for Wally English. The one month turned into seven years. And now much has changed.

DIFFERENT CITY, SAME GUY

Not the essence of David Shula. That`s the same. Through the turmoil in Dallas, where he fell out of favor with coach Jimmy Johnson and was twice ``reassigned`` to different jobs, he remained his own man. He won`t publicly discuss Johnson except to say, ``The man is a borderline genius. He is the ultimate wheeler dealer, and he`s done a great job there, no one can dispute that.``

There will be some dispute about David Shula. The usual litany -- too young, what`s he done, why him? -- already has been heard on the radio talk shows, including the one hosted by former Bengals wide receiver Cris Collinsworth. Some folks in Cincinnati suggest Mike Brown was looking for a ``Yes`` man when he got rid of Sam Wyche and hired David Shula.

If that`s the case, then Mike made a big mistake. David Shula is about as much a ``Yes`` man as is his old man, the guy who once offered to knock the owner of the Miami Dolphins on his keister.

This is not to suggest that David is Don. The late Dorothy Shula once said that her son was smarter than her husband. Check back in 30 years to see if he`s as tough. One thing is certain: He is just as driven and he is willing to work just as hard.

THE NEW WORK ETHIC

Take this training camp session. Under Sam, there was a little minicamp after the draft and then players were on their own until July. Not anymore. This is the second camp since the draft. How do they like it? Last week, Boomer Esiason had just finished running some gassers when the new coach happened by and asked him how he was doing.

``I`m working hard, harder than I ever have in my life,`` Esiason said, and then added with a smile, ``I hope you know what the (bleep) you`re doing.``

He does.

The new head guy has a sparsely furnished office. In the corner is an unhung picture of his three sons. On the metal desk is a salad, still wrapped. From behind the desk, he can look out at the fields and across at the Queen City Barrel Plant, where the smokestack sometimes spews emissions so foul that Wyche used to call the EPA out to the field to measure the pollution index.

In this spartan setting, in this tough business, David Shula is at home. It is what he knows best. He took some hits in Miami. He took some shots in Dallas. He has learned not to take them personally. He is the coach of a 3-13 team, a team that will have its season opener in Seattle, a city where a woman is accusing 15 Bengals players of rape.

Things will be tough. The head coach had better be, too. It says here he will be. He learned how a long time ago.